Governor Owens signed a measure authorizing the payment yesterday, hours after the Legislature approved it to settle a 21-year-old dispute. Kansas sued Colorado in 1984, charging that Colorado farmers had taken too much water out of the river in violation of their water compact. The US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Kansas in 1995 but a decision on damages wasn't made until last year. Kansas had sought $53 million, but the Supreme Court ruled the debt should be $29 million. Interest increased the total to more than $34 million. Colorado will pay the debt using oil and gas tax revenue that normally would fund grants to local communities. The Arkansas River flows 1,450 miles east and southeast through Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Kansas and Colorado have fought over the river's water for more than a century and first took their case to the Supreme Court in 1902.
Colorado agrees to pay debt to Kansas over Arkansas River water
DENVER (AP) - Colorado has agreed to pay its $34.7 million debt to Kansas for taking too much water out of the Arkansas River
